Chapter Thirty-Seven
V ickie felt like she’d been punched in the gut. She shouldn’t have said anything about Thatcher. But they were her best friends. She wanted to be able to have everything out in the open. “What do you mean?”
“Remember Joe Calhoun our senior year?” Kristy asked.
“That was totally different. I can’t believe you’d even bring him up.”
Ainsley raised her eyebrows. “How was it different? You two worked on your senior history project together. You had a mad crush on him but never acted on it.”
“You were hung up on him for like a year,” Kristy piped up. “You drove me crazy with your planning and scheming so you’d run into him in the student center.” She looked at Vickie. “Remember?”
Vickie wrinkled her nose. “That was a long time ago. It wasn’t the same.”
“Fine. Then how about that guy you met right when you moved to D.C.? The one who used to live in your building. What was his name?” Kristy asked.
“Kyle Dakota.” Vickie’s voice was low. “Do we have to go there?”
Kristy nodded. “I think we do. Because this is starting to be a pattern.” She sighed. “You and Kyle were inseparable, remember?”
Vickie nodded. “Endless dinners, movies and road trips. I remember.”
“I never met him,” Ainsley said. “But I remember hearing you gush about him. You were totally crazy about him.”
“And I never told him.” Vickie shrugged her shoulders. “He probably didn’t feel the same way anyway.”
Kristy jerked her head up. “That’s just the point. He was content to hang out with you over dinners and movies. He didn’t mind asking you to pick up his mail when he was out of town. But he wouldn’t step up and be a real boyfriend.” She locked eyes with Vickie. “You spent way too many hours worrying about what he was thinking.”
Vickie knew the words were true. “So what are you saying?”
“Just that I don’t want you to get hung up on another guy who clearly isn’t good for you. If you really like him, I think you should lay it out there. There’s no reason to waste time on someone who doesn’t reciprocate your feelings.”
“Has he given you any indication that he might be interested in you other than just as a research partner?” Ainsley asked gently, shooting a ‘tone it down’ glance in Kristy’s direction.
“Well, we just talk a lot. About everything.” Vickie couldn’t help but smile. “He always seems really interested in what I have to say. And he remembers stuff that I’ve told him.”
Kristy bit her lip. “I haven’t met him or anything, but Vick, you deserve someone who wants to be with you bad enough that he’s willing to scream it from the rooftop.”
Ainsley giggled. “Okay, enough drama. She doesn’t want someone to cause a scene.”
“Well. . .I don’t want them to cause too much of a scene. But a little one would be okay.” Vickie grinned. “How about this? I promise not to get sucked into ‘are we friends or more’ land again. Once our project is over, I think I’ll have my answer.”
“Maybe you should continue to go on a few dates here and there in the meantime.” Kristy said.
“Oh, I don’t know. The last couple of guys I’ve gone out with weren’t my type.” Vickie held a hand up. “Stop. Before you say anything, I’m not being picky. But seriously. One of them took me bowling and you’d have thought we were competing in the Olympics.”
Kristy laughed. “First of all, the thought of you at a bowling alley cracks me up. Please tell me you didn’t wear heels and pearls.”
“Jeans and tennis shoes, thank you very much.” Vickie grinned. “But I did have on diamond earrings. To class it up a bit.” She laughed. “And even better, I beat him on one frame. It was so funny.”
“Did he merit a nickname?” Ainsley asked.
“Gold Medal Man.” Vickie smiled broadly. “But not to his face, of course. Just in my head.”
Kristy shook her head. “Your nicknames crack me up. Poor guys.”
“Surely there’s someone else besides Gold Medal Man. Any other prospects.” Ainsley twisted her long red hair up into a bun. “Besides the professor.” She smiled.
“Nope. I don’t have time to meet anyone right now anyway. Between working and learning all I can about Abraham Lincoln, I stay busy.”
Kristy and Ainsley exchanged a glance.
“What? I’m serious. I’m not just saying that so I can have an excuse to only spend time with Thatcher.” Vickie knew that wasn’t completely true. She could probably find time to date if she really wanted to.
“Well. . .” Kristy trailed off. “There’s sort of something we have to tell you.”
“And before you get mad, just know that it was for your own good,” Ainsley said.
Uh oh. This didn’t sound good. “What?” Vickie furrowed her brow and looked at Kristy. “Spill it.”
“You know how upset you were about turning thirty?” Kristy asked.
Vickie nodded.
“And then you went on what you thought was a date with Thatcher.”
“Yes, I remember clearly. What?”
Ainsley rose from the chair and came to sit next to Vickie on the couch. “We talked about it and decided that maybe you needed some new guys to choose from.”
“So we made you an online dating profile.” Kristy winced. “Please don’t be mad.”
“Surely I didn’t hear you correctly.” Vickie was stunned. She turned to Ainsley. “Are you serious? I am out there like some kind of advertisement?” Her voice was shrill.
“It’s very tastefully done. And the picture is fantastic.”
Vickie was horrified. “A picture? My photo is posted on an online dating site? So just any random person I pass might be looking at me and thinking ‘hey, I saw her online and she needs a date’?” She threw her head back on the couch and closed her eyes.
“At least if someone passed you and recognized you, it would only be because they were also looking for a date,” Kristy said.
Vickie let out a groan and sat up. “Seriously?” She turned to Ainsley. “And you? You couldn’t stop her?”
“Hey. Who says it was my idea?” Kristy feigned hurt.
Ainsley let out a laugh. “I confess. I was the one who thought you needed a little nudge.” Her face grew serious. “Come on, Vick. Just give it a chance.”
Vickie shook her head. “I don’t think so.”
“Would it make you feel better to know that you’re quite popular? You’ve got all kinds of guys just lined up wanting to chat with you or buy you coffee.” Kristy laughed. “One even proposed marriage.”
“Great. Just great.”
“At least promise that at some point, you’ll log in and look the guys over. There’s one pretty cute one who seems normal. He’s some kind of consultant.”
“I’ll think about it if you two will promise to stop pretending to be me online.”
Kristy and Ainsley exchanged glances. Kristy rolled her eyes in Vickie’s direction. “Fine. We will stop. But you have seriously got to get out of your rut.”
Vickie leaned her head back against the couch. Were her friends right? Was it time for her to move into a new realm of dating? It sounded good in theory, but she knew her heart wouldn’t be in it. She was starting to think her heart was already spoken for.
“I’ll get out of my rut.” One way or the other.